Comments on: Don't Know Much About History…

Kids These Days — Are 17-Year-Olds Losing Touch With Cultural References?

[erasmus6]

"A new survey of 17-year-olds found that when asked which year Columbus sailed the ocean blue, 26 percent did not say 1492."

Who cares? What''s a measley DATE, when a lot can''t even find their own country on a freakin'' map! They know nothing about their own country, and nothing about any other country.

And it ain''t just about THIS generation, it is all generations.

"Closing that gap between teens and their parents may be the real test."

Well, where I live, the gap between teens and their parents is getting closer together as time goes by. The gap between my kids and myself is a lot closer than it was between me and my parents or between my parents and their parents.

[ianlou]

In the history of the United States of America there have only been three presidents who have hit a Presidential Triple Play being that they got elected, reelected and kept their party in the Whitehouse with the next presidential election. They are George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan.
Posted by ianlou

Opps, FDR died in office, Only Washington and Reagan are on this very exclusive list!

[gunownerdan]

Dirty Democrats and Rotten Republicans are DUMBING-DOWN AMERICA.
Politicians can control you much easier if you don''t know or care about history.

[runningralph]

Charlotte76,
You are correct, of course. Men are required. What has changed is the indiscriminate part. Women used to be more careful with whom they bred. I know women who have taken up with men they met online- with bad results as you might expect. I know a pretty 20 year old who took up with a man with a sixth grade education and 3 *** children he made no effort to support. So she gave him one more and went back to work in the fast food restaurant. Welfare is survival of the unfittest.

[ianlou]

Here''s some history for the young voter:
In the history of the United States of America there have only been three presidents who have hit a Presidential Triple Play being that they got elected, reelected and kept their party in the Whitehouse with the next presidential election. They are George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan.
George Bush Junior does not belong nor deserve to be part of this exclusive list.
Send this failed president a clear message, Vote Democrat in this election.

[briannorwood]

You know, I get a kick out of older folks bemoaning how the younger kids have not sense of history.

They forget that the reason they know alot of history is that they lived through alot of it!

I''m sure this complaint is as old as dirt too!

[Razzl]

It is now and always has been bogus to expect teenagers in that age bracket to have a wealth of historical or literary cultural references on the tip of their tongues. The knowledge they have of computers and technology is deep and real, but the kinds of people who do the "cultural reference" tests probably don''t even have the basic knowledge to ask them the right questions about those fields. And if you ask them questions about current film stars or musicians, they would probably embarass you as an out-of-touch fogey who doesn''t know a fraction of what they do.

This old accusation about cultural illiteracy is a red-herring issue that''s been going on since the ''50''s when the first generation of pre-war parents who learned the old way, from rote, felt resentment toward a world that didn''t do that kind of education any more. Of course, references to educational history are something the surveyors themselves might not do so well with...

[charlotte76-2009]

Your history may be great, Ralph, but your biology sucks. Last I checked, it''s not just women who engage in propogation. There has to be a man involved in there somewhere.

[skyk-2009]

That will do some good, however, until the curriculum changes and truth is put BACK in education, no hope of success.
Looking at public school textbooks today, they are nothing like those I used in the 60s-70s.



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Posted by Klingon69 at 09:56 AM : Feb 27, 2008
+ report abuse

LOL I sure hope not!! When you look at all the changes that have come about since then IF the books contained the same or simular we''d be in even more trouble. Nancy is right. I teach at a Community College and even there we have lost several of our best and brightest because they could not afford to teach anymore. Text''s are only guides and the secret to a good teacher is the ability to challenge students to think for themselves. To take what is in their text an apply it to life and the world around them. That takes SKILL and that Skill is NOT being rewarded.

[klingon69]

And so it is that we pay teachers a barely liveable wage... Ya want smart children? Pay teachers $120K/year and reduce the wages to Gov''''t contracted security firms.

Regards,
Posted by Nancy_Naive at 09:51 AM : Feb 27, 2008
That will do some good, however, until the curriculum changes and truth is put BACK in education, no hope of success.
Looking at public school textbooks today, they are nothing like those I used in the 60s-70s.

[faerie2]

Also the welfare system pays women to propagate indiscriminately, so this result is inevitable.

Posted by runningralph at 08:59 AM : Feb 27, 2008

RR:
Have you even looked into the welfare system lately? Since Clinton enacted his welfare reform, things have changed. People are only allowed to be on TANF (temporary assistance for needy families) for a total of 60 months. While a person receives those benefits, in order to receive the full amount (which in Missouri is $290 a month for a single parent with 2 children) That adult MUST be meeting a requirement of work/volunteering or will face a reduction in benefits. Up until about a year, year 1/2 ago, if that adult was going to either college or trade school to aquire the skills needed to become self-sufficient, that appeased the requirement. But the republican govt changed the rules and said that these people who are trying to better their lives through education had to start working part time or volunteering. Going to school no longer counted. So I suppose if you want them to get off welfare, perhaps we could start helping them access the tools to do so!

[gunownerdan]

Unfortunately many Americans today would rather be entertained rather than informed.

"Today we need a nation of minute men; citizens who are not only prepared to take up arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as a basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. The cause of liberty, the cause of American, cannot succeed with any lesser effort."
-- President John F. Kennedy, January 29, 1961

[ianlou]

When I was a kid, our reading list of choice was made up of books that were banned in most southern states.
There are a lot of people out there who are glad that kids are not reading like they use to.

[ianlou]

Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It

George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Posted by IrishEyes555

"Those who are ignorant of the horrors of WWI and WWII will goose-step their way to WWIII."

[runningralph]

About 20 or 25 years age I predicted that computers would do for the human brain what machines have done for the human body-make it flabby and weak. Also the welfare system pays women to propagate indiscriminately, so this result is inevitable.

[irisheyes555]

Those Who Forget History Are Doomed to Repeat It

George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

[toolmangler-2009]

Princess - please look up George Orwell''''s book "1984." I think you''''ll see no sexism was intended.
Posted by mikesowa1 at 09:21 PM : Feb 26, 2008


Princess - Read Goerge orwells "Animal Farm" then read his "1984" then read the congressional changes to our "Constitution" since GWB took office, then Read about NAFTA, CAFTA AND SOON ''AFTA''. then lookup "Posse comitatus" the reasons for it and what Bushy-baby has done to it. Lookup "Habeas Corpus" and the reasons for it and what GWB has done to it. Then you will have learned enough to ask some intelligent questions. I hope you do ask.

[snowprincss]

I watched this report on television, and I must say, Couric''s closing line (something along the lines of, "Don''t know who wrote that book? Just ask big brother.") sounded SEXIST to me. Yes, I know, it would have sounded stilted to say "big brother or big sister" but the way she put it made it sound like girls don''t read in school.

[skeptical4]

I guess it''s easy to develop concepts when you''re unencumbered by facts. You don''t have to remember dates to study history, if you''ve found a better way to remember the sequence of events. The sequence is essential for establishing causal relationships. I suspect that quizzes on Geography, Science and Math would produce the same dismal results. Professional educators have opposed No Child Left Behind because it introduced standards and accountability. Smart but ignorant...sort of like having a large engine on blocks.

[loudpipes3]

I am not a teacher. I am a maintenance person. I work in a school district. Often we do work in classrooms while class is being held. Sometimes I see students asleep at their desk while class is being held. Why the teacher permits this is beyond me. Others DO try to learn though. - I think that the "object", these days, is to push students to learn science & math, so in the future, our country will be competitive with other countrys as far as progress is concerned.
I have seen these kids work blackberrys & cell phones, and they dont even look at them, and their fingers FLY over the keyboards! - Its amazing. - I think its a different type of future that they are headed for, but I dont think they, (the teachers) should neglect the basics that we learned though.
I should say this: --- If "I", were caught sleeping in algebra class in MY day, I would be quickly awakened by the smart rap of a teachers pointer over my back!!!
--- Then, probably paddeled in front of the class!
Oh, but "Yes", I forgot, ---- they dont permit that sort of thing anymore. - Too bad! - Everybodys handicapped; the teachers, parents, - everybody!
Teachers are afraid of the kids; so are parents!
Pretty bad-------Thats my bit.